Shootings in Brevard take life of retired Catholic priest who worked in Orlando
A shooting spree in Brevard County that left four dead Sunday ended the life of a retired Catholic priest who had spent 25 years in Orlando parishes, including a stint as a teacher at Bishop Moore Catholic High School.
Father Robert Hoeffner, 76, and his sister, Sally Joan Hoeffner, 69, were found dead in their Palm Bay residence, according to police and records from the Brevard County Property Appraiser’s Office. Both “appeared to have been fatally wounded by gunshots,” police said.
The Hoeffners’ bodies were discovered hours after police responded to a domestic disturbance call at another Palm Bay residence and then exchanged gunshots with a 24-year-old suspect. Two officers were injured in the shooting just before 2:30 p.m., and police said Brandon Kapas, the suspect, killed his grandfather, William Michael Kapas, 78, before police fatally shot him.
Kapas had driven to that scene in a car filled with “an arsenal of weapons and ammunition,” according to a statement from the Palm Bay Police Department. That vehicle was registered at the Hoeffners’ address, police said, and that led officers to the single-story home about 7 p.m., where the Hoeffners’ bodies were found.
The department said it had not been able to identify any relationship between the suspect and the priest or his sister, nor any motive for Kapas’ actions.
Robert Hoeffner, who was ordained in 1973, was remembered as a humble and sometimes funny man who spent decades serving his church. Hoeffner, who retired in 2016, spent the first 25 years of his church career in Orlando but in 1998 he took the position of pastor of St. Joseph parish in Palm Bay to be closer to his parents, who were in poor health, according to information provided by the Diocese of Orlando.
Hoeffner served at that church until he retired, starting a three-language parish council to serve Anglo, Hispanic and Filipino communities and starting a chapter of St. Vincent de Paul Society to serve the poor, the diocese said.
“Throughout his priesthood, Father Hoeffner served the people of God with compassion and humility. We will miss his grace-filled presence. We know he and his sister are received by the Lord with mercy and love,” said the Most Rev. John Noonan, bishop of the Orlando diocese, in an emailed statement.
No one from the diocese was up to speaking with a reporter, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Drow, but church officials provided details about Hoeffner’s life.
He spent most of his childhood in Fort Pierce, one of eight children in a family that kept citrus groves. By middle school, he knew he wanted to enter the priesthood. For high school, he attended St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and then he attended St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach.
His first assignment after ordination was with the Good Shepherd parish in east Orlando. He then taught at Bishop Moore, directed the San Pedro Spiritual Development Center and was tapped by the diocese to be its director of liturgy and ecumenism — “neither of which I had a clue about!” Hoeffner later joked, according to the diocese. “After two years of not knowing what I was doing, I went away to study at the Catholic University of America and got a degree in liturgical studies.”
After nine years in church leadership roles, he was asked to start the new St. Isaac Jogues parish in east Orange County, which met first in a VFW hall before it had its own building. He served there until he took the post in Palm Bay.
“I’ve spent 50 years doing absolutely incredible things, and I am thankful to God for it,” Hoeffner said at a celebration of his 50 years in the priesthood, according to the diocese.
Palm Bay police said their two injured officers are expected to make a full recovery.
Police Chief Mariano Augello said at a Monday afternoon press conference that Hoeffner was a “pillar of the community,” according to Florida Today.
Augello also said that while police do not know the suspect’s plans, the “arsenal of weapons” found in the car suggested something bigger was planned, the newspaper reported.
“Our officers’ actions yesterday prevented something even more tragic from happening,” he said.
